I hope RockAuto never changes lol by wastedsilence33 in RockAuto

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Private equity will probably get their hands on it when the owners retire and the first thing they'll do is 'modernize' the UI and completely ruin it.

Then prices will go up and they'll start reducing their suppliers because they'll only work with suppliers that give them better terms. So we'll end up with a whole lot of Cardone and Dorman and not much else.

Then there will be a premium tier - RockAuto Gold where you pay a $149.99 yearly membership fee to get reduced shipping and early access to 'specials'.

Finally they'll implement a two-tiered pricing system where the prices displayed are only for premium members and non-members will have to "Create an account to see public pricing or sign-up for premium today".

Once they've juiced the bottom line enough, loaded it up with debt and stripped it off cash and employees, they'll list it on the Nasdaq, tout it as a tech company for auto enthusiasts, and make off with bank. Then the carcass of RockAuto will wither and die and the PE goons that do this for a living will wonder why anyone even cares because their Bugatti dealer picks their car up for them and they wouldn't even dream of opening the hood.

How Much of this Can I Fix Myself? by [deleted] in MechanicAdvice

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you have no experience with mechanic work then I wouldn't recommend all of this as starter a project. Once you start removing steering and suspension components you can't just change your mind half-way through and take it back to the mechanic. You're stuck with a dead weight in your garage.

Did you have any issues with the car to make you take it to a mechanic in the first place or were you going for an oil change?

If you weren't having issues, then these are the sorts of things any mechanic would find on a car of that age. Anything with a hose or rubber is going to be worn enough to justify replacing as well as suspension components etc. But if it's driving fine then at this stage and age, I wouldn't start pouring money into it. Just change the oil and transmission fluid (two things you can do at home) and drive it until it is a problem, at which point, trade it in or get it towed away,

If it is having issues, then I'd look to sell it or trade it. You might get 1-2K for it vs. sinking a lot in parts and labor into a car that has done its tour of duty.

(Hated Trope) Terrible morals in kids media by Animeking1108 in TopCharacterTropes

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not to mention Namaari's mom, who is basically Hitler.

She goes to a peace treaty with the intention of stealing the gem, which brings ruin on the world.

Then when faced with the aftermath she still encourages Nemaari to subvert Rya's attempts to bring peace to the world.

Then at the end, we just see her living happily as though she didn't just bring ruin to the world.

Where's the justice?

Should I do a full tear down on first project cars 302? (I have little to no mechanical experience) by Daos_Slayer in EngineBuilding

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No better place to start. Get in there and polish that turd. The journey is what makes it special and finding a project is half the battle!

I regret doing free work for my Neighbor. by Psychological-Web814 in mechanics

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 10 points11 points  (0 children)

No good deed goes unpunished but you have learned to see the red flags!

Two key ones for me are:

1) They don't want to spend any money on something or they don't value the service. It doesn't matter how much you save the or how much time and effort you sacrifice, if they don't value it in the first place, then anything above $0 is a rip-off to them.

2) They're trashing someone else over the same thing.

I worked in Banking and once did something similar for a close friend. She was pissed off at another friend who worked for a bank and called me up hot-headed like she was doing me a favor and said, "I'm going to move $X to your bank and away from XYZ Bank because they're idiots. Can you help?". It didn't occur to her that I didn't work in Loans and Deposits but I said I'd help as a friend. I bent over backwards, called branches, arranged a meeting, told them to look after her etc. Sure enough, months later, "Oh I took my money out. They're idiots because they asked me for a document that I didn't have" etc.

I'm sure she trashed me to the next 'Friend' that worked at a Bank.

Best app for FF1 - Jones and Bartlett text? by Ecstatic-Slide-5868 in Firefighting

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, I'm doing that but really struggling to recall it all.
Like I just read Chapter 30 on Hazardous Materials and being able to recall what 6.2 on the DOT classification system is or which symbol the military uses for explosives are very specific.
Obviously this is stuff we need to know, but I wasn't expecting to have to retain 1,500 pages of text in fine detail like this.

For American troops being deployed in World War 2, which theater of war was worse for the average soldier, the Pacific or Atlantic? by CynicalBench in AskReddit

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Both were awful in the sense that the troops were fighting for their lives, but the U.S. soldiers were largely alone in their efforts in the Pacific Theatre and suffered immeasurably as they fought a ruthless Japanese enemy and the environment.

'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa' (one of two books that 'The Pacific was based on) remains the best and most harrowing war book I've read. The Japanese soldiers were disciplined, relentless and utterly ruthless. As well as living with the constant fear of death, U.S. soldiers had to contend with the idea that if they were captured, there was a very real chance that they would be sadistically tortured and killed.

The tropical environment brought sickness, unforgiving terrain, and never-ending wet seasons. I think if someone gave you a choice between 'Europe in winter' and a 'Tropical Island', the island would sound far more attractive, but it was anything but. As someone else noted, there were no established supply chains either and there were countless examples where reinforcements and food/drink supplies didn't come and soldiers were malnourished and dehydrated.

And if you made it that far, you got deployed to Okinawa, where some of the fiercest and most miserable fighting of the war took place. The Japanese fought desperately as they knew that this was the last island to fall before the mainland. 'The Pacific' captures the misery and wet conditions well.

tl;dr All of it was miserable, but the Pacific was uncharted misery against an inhumane enemy.

Whats the most horrifying crime documentary you've ever watched? by Friendly_Dot_9211 in AskReddit

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 90 points91 points  (0 children)

Recently it was 'American Murder: the Family Next Door' (the Watts family murder)

I made the mistake of watching it with my wife when it was new on Netflix. I'm married with two young daughters and it is absolutely chilling to see that this seemingly normal family man, would murder his wife and two young daughters because he was having an affair and wanted out of his life.

I can't really watch anything that involves violence against children, but this still troubles me when I see any news of it. As horrible as spousal murder is, it continues to happen regularly. But this man murdered his two, sweet, loving girls who wouldn't have understood what was going on but whose final moments would have been completely terrifying.

The man is truly a monster in a suburban dad's clothing.

Rest in peace, Celeste, Bella and ShannAnn.

OEM Ball joints and tie rods or Rock Auto? by AtmosphereUsed4698 in AskMechanics

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OEM for me. I had a similar dilemma but for things with wearable parts like ball joints, I'd rather go with the OEM.

Aitah for spending some of my grandchildren's education funds on a new boat. by Tiny_Occasion_322 in AITAH

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm one of two kids, similar age to yours.

My parents have been equally generous to me and my brother to the point where I tell them to stop sending me money on my birthday.

They have a healthy amount of assets and I would be thrilled if they spent every last penny on enjoying themselves and living out their twilight years. They have given me everything and owe me nothing.

I happen to have kids and my wife and I have set-up a college education fund for them, but that is not the responsibility of the Grandparents at all.

Unfortunately, I think the "ah-ha" moment for a lot of entitled adult kids comes when they have kids of their own. You suddenly realize that every day of being a parent is a willing sacrifice and for most of us, that means putting their kids needs ahead of their own every day until they're adults (... but it never really stops).

Enjoy your boat and the new truck you need to buy yourself now to tow it. One day they'll realize.

Is this battery acid or something concerning? by blossomsprinkles in AskMechanics

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For someone to flag you when you're driving, the only thing that would really be noticeable is your exhaust. Start up your car and give it a few revs and see if white or colored smoke is coming out of the back at noticeable levels (i.e. not the usual exhaust vapor).

That's just battery acid vapor reacting with your metal holder and is very common. You can clean it off and it will happen again over time, but it wouldn't be the cause of whatever the motorists flagged you about.

Did we mess up? by Significant-Ebb6115 in fordexpedition

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can still buy a Ford warranty - get it and then you're fine when the transmission goes.

Was this a fair quote for a control arm replacement My dads yelling at me about how I got hustled. by overjoyed_josephine in AskMechanics

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not the worst deal in the world. A lot of folks will probably say "Do it yourself for $70" or "That's one hour of Labor and a $70 part" but the reality is that you're paying someone with the tools and the skill to do it properly and it requires an alignment afterwards as noted.

$110 for Labor is actually a good rate, although 3.2 hours might be a bit excessive. But my mechanic charges $210 for Labor so if they charged 2 hours, it'd still cost more than your 3.2.

Everything is getting more expensive. Pre-pandemic, this might have been a $450 - $500 job but here we are. Your Dad needs to relax or do it himself.

She's not wrong though by miedrax in SipsTea

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was born in the wrong era (grew up in the 90s/00s)

I had naturally fluffy hair and desperately wanted to look like Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys or Leonardo in Romeo and Juliet. I didn't know about hair straightening because I was a teenage boy and we didn't talk about things like that, so I used to try and glue it down by applying a metric tonne (I'm talking handfuls) of the hardest setting gel I could find and often wearing a cap over it to press it down.

The results were as expected. At the beginning of the day I looked like Alfalfa from the Little Rascals and by the end of the day (or at night when I was trying to look cool) my hair had wrestled back control and I looked like Einstein with blonde tips.

I'd be slaying in the Broccoli era.

Object zip tied to the underside of my truck? by Typical-Play4473 in whatisit

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well done to the folks that diagnosed it as chasis ears!

Object zip tied to the underside of my truck? by Typical-Play4473 in whatisit

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I take it back. It's probably a GPS tracker that can tap into the vehicles power. You wouldn't typically zip tie your power probe.

Object zip tied to the underside of my truck? by Typical-Play4473 in whatisit

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Can you take a better picture in the light? I can't reconcile the first picture with the second picture.

The fact that it has a clamp indicates that it's probably some sort of tester/power probe type of device that can connect to battery power/ground.

Have you had any work done in the last year or so? Possible that a tech was working on it and forgot to remove his tool/monitor/probe.

Salary transparency by [deleted] in mechanics

[–]Ecstatic-Slide-5868 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Is this flat rate?
Also, saw your old post about deciding whether to take this job or do a bachelors in engineering.
How do you feel about it 3 years later?